James Ford

James joined WPIX in 2007, serving as the lead live reporter for the PIX11 Morning News, covering breaking news and feature stories.

Prior to his position at WPIX, Ford was a reporter for six years at WNYW Channel 5 in New York, where his reporting on Sept. 11 was the subject of the documentary “Dreams Without Sleep,” which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.

Ford, an Emmy Award-winning reporter, began his television career at WTOC-TV in Savannah, Ga., where he was a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor. He later moved to WFTV, Channel 9 in Orlando, Fla. He was the station’s Space Coast bureau chief, responsible for reporting all types of news in Brevard County, which is called Florida’s Space Coast.

In that position, he also field-anchored coverage of 41 space shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center. Ford’s next move was to WRTV Channel 6 in Indianapolis, where he anchored the morning news and was a consumer investigative reporter.

James is proud to have grown up in an Air Force family, having lived in six states and Great Britain. He and his family live in Manhattan.

Ford is a graduate of Yale University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also studied Arabic at the International Language Institute of Cairo.

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Recent Articles

HARLEM, Manhattan — Many of the problems that some people had feared when 14th Street became restricted from car, van, and other passenger vehicle use last month didn’t end up occurring. Neighboring streets didn’t get markedly more congested, most business traffic didn’t noticeably decrease, and tempers didn’t flare in any newsworthy manner. Because of those positive outcomes, the president of the borough is now proposing placing similar conditions on two other crosstown streets uptown. “On 125th Street, and all the […]

WESTHAMPTON, L.I. — Jumping out of planes and on to personal watercraft by parachute, from 3,500 feet — that’s just part of the life-risking activities that some elite airmen from our region engage in in order to save lives. And now that the U.S. is preparing to once again start launching Americans into space, members of the 103rd Rescue Squadron are now training to be one of the main organizations that rescues astronauts. “It’s probably the most noble mission,” said […]

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN — Because crowds of tourists and holiday revelers can become very thick in and around Rockefeller Center — a retail, entertainment and office hub — the city’s Department of Transportation is closing off the area to vehicles for the holiday season. The move is designed to make Rockefeller Center safer, traffic-wise, for the thousands of people who pass through the area every minute. In fact, some 800,000 people filter through Rockefeller Center every day during the holiday season. […]

ELIZABETH, New Jersey — A high school student in Elizabeth was riding a public e-scooter when a tow truck ran over him, killing him. Now, as a community mourns for Nelson Miranda Gomez, 16, the incident that killed him is casting a shadow over the whole process of publicly available electric scooters. Elizabeth, and two other New Jersey cities, now try to decide how, or whether or not, to proceed with their e-scooter programs. After sundown on Thursday, a group […]

NEW YORK — The New York City taxi federation unveiled a plan that would change the way you pay for your ride. The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers has suggested that drivers collect their fare upfront before the ride begins. It’s called Operation Pay and Ride, and it’s meant to stop fare evaders who flee the cab without paying. The NYSFTD estimates between 20 and 30% of all livery rides goes unpaid. The initiative also hopes to help […]

TRIBECA, Manhattan — A plan to change the streets of New York from being car-oriented to promoting walking, cycling and public transportation became law on Tuesday. Mayor Bill De Blasio signed a bill crafted by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called the Streets Master Plan. The $1.7 billion proposal is intended to make the majority of New Yorkers, who don’t use personal vehicles, safe from vehicles. “I think it’s great,” said a woman crossing West and North Moore streets. She, […]

EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn — It was a central part of policing in New York City for the three terms during which Michael Michael Bloomberg was mayor. Stop and frisk is now, though, a controversial practice for which Bloomberg apologized on Sunday. For every ten people who are stopped, eight are black or Latino, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which based its findings on NYPD statistics. Also, the NYCLU said, black and Latino males under the age […]

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Hundreds of teachers, and more than a thousand students — in two separate events — demonstrated on Friday in support of a beloved football coach and teacher who’s been reassigned. Coach Lou DiRienzo is, at least for the time being, banned from his school over a non-criminal incident in which he was involved earlier this week. At 11:00 A.M. on Friday, students walked out of New Rochelle High School en masse, in organized support for DiRienzo. […]

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — The Port Authority Bus Terminal got bigger on Wednesday, but the expansion didn’t take place at what’s already the busiest bus terminal in the world, in Midtown. Instead, it took place at the other Port Authority terminal, uptown. The opening of a variety of shops here is the latest stage in a two years-long renovation and improvement project at the massive facility connected to the George Washington Bridge. Wednesday’s opening is significant, but whether or not it […]

LOWER MANHATTAN — Temperatures in the Tri-state region dropped off a steep cliff on Tuesday, leaving some people in shock, after they’d left for work in the morning amid nearly 60 degree conditions, then came home in the evening with the air feeling well below freezing. Overnight, the temperatures are expected to go even lower as part of a deep freeze that’s gripped most of the country. New York City’s government planned for a snow emergency that didn’t materialize, but […]